Linda Colla’s story is a stark example of the state of dental care in the UK. For seven years, she struggled to find an NHS dentist, and with private dental care too expensive for her, Colla ultimately resorted to pulling her own teeth to end the constant pain. Her experience highlights the chronic crisis within NHS dentistry and the millions of Britons facing similar struggles.
Colla, 75, from Ottery St. Mary in Devon, explains how she extracted her own teeth after they became unbearably painful. “It took me a couple of weeks to get each one out,” she recalls, using a tissue to get a better grip as the teeth loosened. “There was nothing wrong with the teeth; it was gum disease,” she adds, showing me the three yellowed teeth she kept in a small box. Despite their condition, Colla insists that the teeth weren’t the problem—her gums were. After years of battling gum disease, her real teeth, which she had been slowly replacing with dentures since her late 30s, eventually became too painful to keep.
Colla’s story is far from unique. According to a July report by the British Dental Association (BDA), around 13 million people in England—28% of the adult population—have unmet dental needs. Of these, 5.6 million attempted to book an appointment in the last two years but were unable to, while 5.4 million didn’t even try, believing they would be turned away. Access to NHS dental care is particularly dire in the south-west, where Colla lives, with 96.7% of people unable to secure an appointment.
The issue stems from a decades-long underfunding of NHS dentistry and an outdated contract that limits the number of patients a practice can see. The rigid system of funding and treatment limits often forces dentists to cut corners, focusing on the most basic care for the least complicated cases. Those with more severe needs, like Colla, are left to suffer or find alternative solutions—like performing dental work themselves.
The frustration is compounded by the high costs of private dental care. With extractions often starting at £150 and many NHS patients unable to afford such fees, Colla had no choice but to take action herself. When her remaining teeth became unbearable about three years ago, she resorted to pulling them out—an extreme measure driven by sheer necessity.
This growing crisis has forced many to turn to self-treatment, with an alarming number of people performing their own extractions or attempting to fix dental issues without professional help. A 2023 YouGov poll found that 10% of Britons had carried out their own dental work, and 34% of those had tried to remove their teeth.
Shawn Charlwood of the BDA attributes the worsening situation to the underfunded NHS contract, which fails to support dentists in providing adequate care to those most in need. “We’ve seen the greatest real-term reduction in financial support for any NHS sector,” he says. Dentists are expected to treat more patients with fewer resources, often relying on private work to subsidize NHS care.
For Colla, the inability to afford the necessary care has been emotionally taxing as well. “Teeth are confidence-builders,” she says, explaining how losing her front teeth left her devastated. In a final attempt to restore some semblance of normalcy, Colla managed to gather the money for private care to replace the missing teeth. Despite this, her experience highlights a broader, systemic problem affecting millions across the country.
As more people are forced into similar situations, the call for reform grows louder. Colla, now without her original teeth, is critical of the government’s handling of the NHS dental crisis. “The NHS has been starved of funding for years,” she says. “The Tories have made a mess of everything.”
The lack of access to affordable, quality dental care for both adults and children is a growing issue, with nearly 45% of children not receiving dental treatment through the NHS in the year leading up to March 2024. For children, tooth decay is one of the leading causes of hospital admissions, often preventable through proper care. However, with fewer dentists available and patients increasingly unable to afford private care, these problems will only worsen.
The situation leaves Colla reflecting on the future. “It’s like going back to the 1800s,” she says, pointing out that when she was a child, dental checks were routine in schools. Now, with more children suffering from preventable dental issues, Colla fears the legacy of poor oral health will persist, affecting generations to come.
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